Digimon Frontier: World of Deception
by alessairi
Summary: They thought that nothing could ever stop the Legendary Warriors or the three Celestial Digimon from protecting their world, but after five years, a new evil power appears, and the DigiDestined are called once again. When war breaks out, the children have to survive and find a way to save both the Digital and Human World...no matter the cost.
1. Chapter 1

**DIGIMON FRONTIER: World of Deception**

 **Chapter 1**

"Go ahead! Try to use your little useless attacks. Just make it quick," Sarlakamon laughed in an eerily comical way. "I'm missing some excellent chaos here."

"Agunimon, what's the plan?" Ranamon spoke, softer than she intended.

Agunimon never took his eyes off of the evil digimon as he spoke "I have no idea. I don't know how to kill him! I don't know if he CAN be killed even with our powers combined! The only thing I can think of is just for us to keep attacking." He felt that he had failed his friends, and now they were about to pay for it with their lives.

Seeing the warrior of flames that scared wasn't very common, but he wasn't the only one. The situation wasn't good at all and everybody was fearing the worst.

"At this rate, we aren't going to last that much-" Lobomon stopped because of a ragged cough. His vision clouding for a moment and feeling light headed, he looked up, "We need to end this soon."

"What can we do? We are all hurt and he's too strong for us!" Kazemon said with worry. She then looked at Sarlakamon and gasped. With a snap of his fingers, the sun instantly became obscured, and a heavy downpour started across the land. The evil digimon was attacking again, this time preparing his last move.

"BLACK AURA BLAST!"

And then, everything went black.

* * *

"How was school today, Takuya?" Yuriko Kanbara asked her son as she set the table.

"It was sooo boring,"answered a 17-years old boy with lightly tanned skin, brown hair and hazel eyes. "When will you stop questioning that? It's always the same. Same boring professors, same boring classes, same boring classmates...Really mom, I just can't wait for the summer holiday."

As he said that, he remembered his adventure in the Digital World, how he fought to protect this world, how he made amazing friends, how he created a bond with the warrior of flames. He always missed those times and wondered what the digimon are doing, wishing that one day he will visit them with his gang.

"I think you are just being lazy," replied Yuriko. "Oh, can you go to the shop and buy me some rice for the onigiri? I totally forgot about it."

Without response, Takuya got up, put his shoes on and left before his mother could thank him. He walked on the street, lost in his thoughts, when the wind begun to blow strongly and rain drops to fall. The clouds above him billowed across the awakening sun, casting the street into a shadowy darkness.

"Great, a storm is coming."

The wind was getting stronger and stronger and the rain heavier. The whole street was under a black abyss of the clouds. The storm surrounded him and he was well and truly trapped. Suddenly, Takuya felt as if he was floating. He was actually going to the cloud above him.

His eyes grew wide a look of shock, "What is happening? What's wrong with this weather…?! HELP!"

Looking at his hands, he blinked in confusion as he saw something very familiar.

Data.

He was transforming into data which means…

"…I am going to the Digital World."

After several minutes, a bright flash of energy exploded in the middle of a field, incinerating any of the grass that was unfortunate enough to have grown around the source.

"Okay so I fell from somewhere, I'm guessing. Let's, uh, t-take a look around." Takuya opened his eyes, which seemed to be a bad idea as pain surge through them. "Gah!" "Okay, let's try again slower." Taking a deep breath, he began to repeat his action in a new way. "Now that's better." But before he could see the place he'd landed, he realized that a baby digimon with a translucent floating body was flying right in front of him, staring.

"Um, excuse me, sir, but what are you doing at the Flame Terminal?"

"Flame Terminal?" after looking at the place for a moment, Takuya spoke "Hey, uh, what... what's going on here. You look like..." A flashback suddenly got him. He was 12 years old when he last saw this kind of creature. "Y-you are Poyomon, right?"

Ignoring the question, the baby monster continued to examine the human curiously, "What a weird digimon you are! You fell from the sky but you don't have wings. Now that I look better you look like the other digimon that fell earlier today. What level are yo- "

"THERE ARE OTHERS LIKE ME?" he asked with a huge grin.

"Oh yes, there is a big blue one, a purple one with yellow hair, a green one who was shorter than the others and-"

"WHERE ARE THEY?"

"They are talking with the Trailmon, they said something about another world and stuff like that. They were confused just like you!" he giggled.

"Thank you, Poyomon!" said eagerly the goggle boy as he was running to the train station, leaving the creature staring in awe.

"What a weird digimon…" Poyomon muttered to himself.

Takuya who had previously been confused about the change of events was now running on the streets, heading to the Flame Terminal. From the distance he could see four silhouettes.

"Here he is! Takuya's here!" Tommy beamed with excitement.

"Finally I found you guys! What happened?" asked the goggle boy as the 14-year old boy hugged him. Even though Tommy had grown significantly through the years he was still considered the kid of the group and always treated Takuya as his second big brother, admiring and wishing to be like him.

"Maybe they missed us." replied JP, the former warrior of thunder, who even if he had grown up and lost a fair amount of weight, he was still how he used to be five years ago. He was the oldest of the group, but many times he wouldn't act his age.

"Or maybe the Digital World is in trouble again." Zoe contradicted him, her hands on her hips. As expected from her, she had blossomed into a very attractive and popular girl. The blonde then turned to the lone wolf of the group. "There must be a reason why we were transported here. What do you think, Koji?"

He stared for a moment at her emerald eyes and answered "Yeah. But I'm wondering…Why isn't Koichi here?" The former warrior of light had grown over the years, too. He still wore his long black hair in a ponytail, while his twin brother had a completely different style, but they come to accept each other despite the awkwardness of the events that happened many years ago and despite their different personalities.

"Because I am the one responsible for taking the children of Darkness, Earth, Wood, Water, and Steel into the Digital World." And with those words, everybody was suddenly staring wide eyed at Trailmon.

"What?!" Takuya was the first one to speak after a moment of silence.

"Oh, I thought you knew that already." He looked at them, quite confused.

"We don't know anything! That's why we came to you in the first place." yelled Zoe with an annoyed look on her face. Trailmon blushed as the girl stared angrily at him. "Now tell us, where did you take them and why did you do that?"

"T-they are at the Forest Terminal. T-the Celestial Digimon ordered m-me to do that…" he stammered. "It was…their last wish…" He stopped as ancient painful memories returned unbidden to him.

"THEIR LAST WISH?!" they yelled in unison. The place fell silent. Memories of Ophanimon, Seraphimon and Cherubimon appeared in their minds; how the evil Spirits stole Seraphimon's data, transforming him into a Digi-Egg, how Ophanimon sacrificed herself to give Takuya and Koji the power to combine the Spirits to become EmperorGreymon and MagnaGarurumon, how Cherubimon was defeated, how they reborned and, finally, how thankful they were for the efforts of the humans who saved their world.

"What happened to them?" asked JP, who was the first one to recover from the shock.

Trailmon closed his eyes and let some tears fall. "It is said that they fought against an evil digimon along with the Ten Legendary Warriors and in order to protect the Spirits they were killed and turned into Digi-Eggs. That's all I know… After that I've been told to transport some of the digidestined into the Digital World and take them to the Forest Terminal." he explained solemnly.

"That's terrible…" Zoe said looking at the ground.

"What are we supposed to do?" JP questioned.

"Should we find the others?" Tommy wondered.

"But our spirits…" Koji added.

"I'm hungry." A moment of silence filled the place again and everybody was staring at Takuya. "What? It's dinner time! You expect me to think of a plan with an empty stomach?"

Trailmon chuckled, "I'm sure all of you are feeling very hungry, especially after such a terrifying ordeal. It's not easy to be transported by a storm so please, some of the digimon living in the Village of Flames have set up a fine dinner for you all, and considering at least two of you have not eaten dinner, I suggest you take it."

It was only then that JP heard the tell-tale rumbling of his stomach, now begging him at the mention of a meal. "Yes please!"

And for the first time since they arrived, they laughed.

* * *

"Wh... where are we?" Katsuharu asked in awe.

What stood before them was not Shibuya's subway station, nor any other area of the city that they were familiar with. Instead, what greeted the five humans was a vast expanse of what once had been a field of tall grasses, except now it looked as though a long drought had took its toll on the land. Most of the vegetation that had grown in the fields had browned in their struggle for life, a sure sign of death. Whatever trees that had stood in the area had very few leaves in their possession, some of them being completely devoid of any semblance of life.

"I don't know," Katsuharu heard Chiaki softly respond. "but I don' think we're in Japan anymore."

"This is the Digital World." stated Koichi. "But I don't remember this place. It looks…different. As if someone-"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Teppei interrupted him. "You mean THAT Digital World where we've been 5 years ago? That Digital World where we met Angemon and after a while the Royal Knights killed him? Man, this place is dangerous! Why are we here?" he spoke swiftly, somehow panicked.

"Koichi, you had a Spirit, right?" questioned Teruo as he turned to the former warrior of darkness. "You know better than us this world and its secrets and dangers. Do you have any idea what is happening?"

Koichi thought for himself for a moment. "I'm afraid not. It's not like we've got a message from Ophanimon… it just happened to be transported here."

"This place is... creepy," Chiaki whispered to nobody in particular.

"Okay, this place is weird I know, but it's probably a common thing in this part of the world. I think... we should try to find a clue or something. Hey, maybe we've got Spirits!" Katsuharu exclaimed, trying to change the mood.

"What is this? I'm sure I've seen this before." asked Teruo examining the brown device from his hand. The raven-haired boy searched in his pocket and found that he has one too.

"It's a D-Tector!" Koichi answered a little surprised. "With that you have the ability to transform into a digimon. It can be used to scan, purify, and then realize Fractal Code." He explained, as the other children looked at their own device.

"I have one too!" exclaimed Katsuharu with excitement, showing the group his green D-Tector. "You know what it means? We can transform into Digimon. I bet mine is awesome!"

"But I think we should take the Spirits first. Am I right?" Teppei turned to Koichi. The boy nodded and then spoke with concern in his voice "I have a bad feeling about this whole thing."

"I for one refuse to allow myself to remain in this dreadful place." Chiaki groaned as she walked away from the group, the boys only staring at her. After noticing no one was following, she spoke again. "Are you coming or what?" The girl stumbled for a moment, but quickly caught herself, willing herself to continue.

"We can't let her alone, can we?" said Teruo with a smile on his face and followed the prissy girl. With that, the group nodded to each other, and started walking in the direction where Chiaki went. However, with every minute, the heat of the world sapped more and more energy from the five of them.

It was what Katsuharu would suspect to be just about an hour of silence before he was fed up as well. That is, until he spoke up. "I don't mean to be breaking any thinking but… if this is the Digital World why there are no digimon at all?" Ironically, right when this late last sentence was spoken, a loud growl could be heard from the sky.

"I must have asked…"

"Be quiet!" Koichi whispered looking towards the quivering boy.

A huge shadow was now covering them and the sound of flapping wings could be heard. The five teens imagined that only a big flying creature could make it and wondered whether it was going to face them or not. They stood there in silence, paralyzed in fear for a few seconds before the giant digimon left in the opposite direction. They sighed in relief and nodded to each other to continue their way.

As they walked, the five talked about anything and everything. At first, the talk was mostly about what they were going to do in the Digital World and suggestions about what kind of digimon they were going to meet. Also, they were questioning if other human children arrived in the Digital World and where they were and when they would find them. As the heat of the day wore on, talk came less and less common, to the point that they were not talking at all, only letting their panting in response to the heat and Teruo's humming break the silence.

Chiaki was in her own deep thinking, asking herself what was going to happen and when she would go back home. Also, why would she be with Katsuharu of all people in this place? The boy she had lov- admired for such a long time and with whom, for fear of rejection, she had been silent for years, never admitting her affection. Or maybe she was just being too arrogant. Why was she walking next to him anyway? She could stand next to any boy from this group, yet there she was, next to him wearing an awkward smile. Wait, why was she smiling? She stepped further so she could stand next to someone else, trying to get rid of this thought.

"What's up with this quietness?" she heard the object of her affection asking with a bored tone.

Katsuharu, on the other hand, never noticed Chiaki's attempt to hide her smile from him. He actually never noticed that she was walking next to him, nor that she rushed from him. He was too busy thinking about what adventures were awaiting for the group and what was his Spirit going to look like. And nothing else mattered for him. Confident, adventurous, loud, daring, full of himself. That's how he was. Tough as steel.

Koichi found himself in an untamed wilderness, asking himself how he and the other teenagers got in there. Would they unearth secrets in their journey and what was the reason why they were taken there? And most important, did his brother arrive in the Digital World, too? So many questions, yet no answer. Just like his relationship with his brother, the lonely wolf. Koichi wanted to be by his side forever, but Koji would always say that he didn't know what is like to be a brother. They were like Yin and Yang, darkness and light, their bond was a special one, at least from Koichi's point of view.

"Say…where are we heading more exactly?" Teppei finally spoke.

Unlike the others, he wasn't thinking of something important. The only thing he was interested in was the attention. If he got the attention, then he got everything. Brash and conceited, he was walking in front of the group, feeling like a leader.

Teruo was walking behind him, who could not help noticing Chiaki's coming next to him. Or was he just imagining things? He felt like impressing the only girl of the group and decided to answer Teppei's question with an intelligent reply.

"Goals seem impossible only when you are not heading toward them."

He felt four pairs of eyes staring at him. He blushed as he looked at Chiaki's blank expression. The girl wasn't that impressed as he expected.

"I mean…look!" he pointed to the left direction. "It looks like a village!"

"You're right!" Teppei burst with excitement. "There must be someone there. Let's go!"

Katsuharu smiled to himself. The next few days were sure to be a lot of fun.


	2. Chapter 2

_Greetings everyone and thanks for reading my first fanfiction! Hope you'll enjoy this chapter and please review and tell me what you think! I don't own Digimon or its characters, but I do own my OCs._

* * *

 **DIGIMON FRONTIER: World of Deception**

 **Chapter 2**

Dying grass and dry soil. Everything was silent. It was not a good kind of silence. Everybody was gone, but she was there. The short-heighted girl, with long golden hair that falls past her waist in waves and with big baby blue eyes, desperately searching for any living creature.

She watched the tears fall into the sand and vanish in the rising heat. How long had it been since she left? Where did she go? How did that happen? Whatever the reason, this far out of reach from civilization, she would be in danger.

After some minutes of walking, her gaze fell upon the sight of a town. She darted towards the city. At last! She was back in civilization! The buildings grew closer and larger. Nothing appeared to be Shibuya, but she could definitely see a train station. There was a train waiting by the platform, too. Good. That meant she could return home as soon as possible.

But there was something. The town felt different. Weird. The buildings were dark and stoic, and only few sounds could be heard from them. If it were night time, maybe this would've been normal, but surely not during the middle of the day, right?

"Run, Neemon!" she could hear a yell coming from a nearby street. She turned away, only to see a white little creature, with pink waistband, horned head and pointed ears, accompanied by a yellow rabbit creature with red pants and stubby arms, running towards the train on the platform. The girl let out a brief scream and hid after the nearest building, watching them in horror.

"You idiot, hurry!" yelled again the smaller creature.

"But Bokomon, can't we stop for a moment?" replied the rabbit.

"Why would we do that? They're coming after us!"

"There is someone hiding from us over there." He pointed to the direction where the girl stood.

"Someone, you say?" he stopped and stared at the place Neemon pointed and his vision was starting to slowly focus on a small silhouette, one that reminded him of the creatures that once saved their world. _"Could that be…a human?"_

Bokomon darted to the girl, with Neemon behind. The blonde didn't understand what was on their mind at first, but before she could realize, the two creatures were already getting too close to the spot where she was.

"Oh no" she murmured to herself.

"Hey, you!" she could hear the small creature calling for her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-" no sooner did the girl finally find her voice to speak than Bokomon interrupted her.

"Enough with the apologies! We have to run right now before they find us!"

"They?" her eyes grew wider at the two monsters who approached her "Who…what are you? What is this place?" she asked as she stumbled backwards.

"Do not be afraid of us, human girl! We'll explain everything at the right moment. Please, follow us and you will be safe."

The blonde raised an eyebrow. She was going to protest against how he was trying to persuade her, but she quickly realized that any protest would fall on deaf ears. How could she protest against him? It was his world, a world of weird talking creatures. That's what she knew for now. And that she was lost in this world, having two options: to try trusting him and go with them or to stay in the desert waiting for nothing. With a frown on her face, she decided to follow the little creature without asking any other questions, even though she had already made a list of them.

"I'm right behind you." She states as she followed Bokomon and Neemon. That's when she realized the sound of many steps behind her, but when she looked back she could see nothing.

"Don't look back again. They're trying to scare you. We are being watched here in the Candlemon Village. I don't know how closely or by whom, but I know for certain that we are. The Digimon in this town are required for other tasks, such as border patrol and the defense of our outer cities. They won't return home anyway, since Sarlakamon turned it into ruins."

"Oh…"

"It wasn't always like that." Bokomon told himself.

"Excuse me?"

"The war… I had hoped it would never come to this again."

"Do you mean a war…as in people get killed kind of war?" the girl asked, slack jawed at the little creature.

"I do" he said gravely. "However, you give me hope, my dear." Before she could ask what he meant, he began. "A long time ago, six brave humans were able to transform into Legendary Warriors and defeat Lucemon, the biggest enemy the Digital World have ever had. He was powerful and almost unstoppable, but those children kept on fighting and saved both Digital World and Human World. After that, the peace was restored and the humans went back where they belong, leaving the Legendary Warriors rule the place."

"And everyone lived happily ever after" Neemon jumped up, trying to contribute to his companion's speech.

"Don't forget why I'm telling her the story, you moron!" yelled the creature with the pink waistband. He paused with a sigh and took a moment to gather himself. Turning back to the girl, he continued. "The Digital World is in a state of crisis again. Right now we're looking for the DigiDestined so that they find the Legendary Spirits and defeat the evil forces. I don't know how you got here, but you're human and you're totally gonna help us, right?" the monster asked with a fake smile.

"Um… I don't think I know how to do that. Or if I can-"protested the blonde, only to be cut off by the weird-looking creature in front of her.

"Yes, you can! I know you can! You must-"

"Hey, Bokomon…" the rabbit intervened again.

"What's now?" the monster with the pink waistband gave him an annoyed look.

"Let me try…" the white creature only looked at him awkwardly. Neemon got one step closer to the girl and spoke to her in a calm tone. "Hi."

"Hi…" she replied somehow shyly. It was the first time the yellow creature addressed to her.

"What is your name?"

"Airi Aisaka."

"You have a nice name, Airi. I'm Neemon, and this is my friend, Bokomon. He can be bossy sometimes. We are Digital Monsters, and you are in the Digital World."

"I see." After several moments, she continued with a compassionate look on her face. "Seems like you guys went through a lot."

"I saw with my own eyes what those children could do so that's why, after Lucemon's defeat I vowed to share the legend of the humans and friends who saved our world. I believe that humans are truly what the Digital World needs. And I knew that sooner or later they will come to help." Bokomon declared.

"But you said that the Legendary Warriors were left to rule… What happened to them?" tentatively asked Airi.

"No one knows… except for the Celestial Digimon, the ones who protected them, but they are nowhere to be found. That's why I've been looking for humans."

"I would like to help." she said briefly. "But I would hate to be caught up in a war." The girl felt like running away, to hide or simply evade the underlying implications of why she had been taken to this place.

The little monster nodded but otherwise kept his silence for the moment.

"I…I'm sorry. I just hate fighting…the thought that anyone could get hurt…or worse." She spoke with a tinge of fear in her tone. The monster smiled a sad smile as his eyes met the bright shining orbs of Airi's. "But…maybe we should stuck together since I don't know anyone and this place gives me the creeps."

"Let's go to the Village of Flames!" said Neemon with an energetic bounce.

At the mention of his hometown, Bokomon's eyes lit up. "I would normally say no to your stupid ideas, but this time I feel like missing home."

The blonde only smiled warmly as she followed them.

* * *

As the trio headed to the Village of Flames, unaware of the adventure that awaits them, the humans who were already there had their meal.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all. I've heard stories of you humans, but never could I imagine that they would look so..." Elecmon paused to look around the room at the youngsters, and smiled, "...vibrant."

Zoe smiled back to the red Digimon. "I have to admit, I'm surprised that you two would be so kind as to allow us to stay and eat with you, especially when we don't have anything to give."

"Yeah, It is really generous to let all of us stay here." Koji added.

"Oh don't you mention it! We rarely get any travelers through these parts, and all of those either pass us by, or have family in the area. When someone comes through looking lost like you, we couldn't let you just stay out in the elements! Besides, Biyomon is the one who you should thank, she's the one who prepared lunch."

The bird Digimon nodded, "When Trailmon told me we were having five guests over for the night, I couldn't say no." She let a small chuckle escape her mouth. "But five traveling children from the Human World, I have to say, I've never expected that!"

By this point, the bowls of food had been passed around, and Takuya, JP and Tommy were all digging in, while the other four were content with just talking to each other.

All throughout the meal, Elecmon and Biyomon smiled and made idle conversation to the gang. In actuality, it was less of a conversation and more of a monologue by the two Digimon that the others could only listen to. His talks were on a random assortment of topics, ranging from how the business was doing, the weather, to their cooking skills.

After getting dark outside, the two hosts along with their guests slowly made their way upstairs.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the borders of the Continent of Flame, unfriendly eyes watched, waiting.

Waiting…

Waiting…

"They should be here by now." someone spoke in a coarse voice. He glanced around and wondered where the creatures he was supposed to meet were situated.

"Sorry we're late." Suddenly, another voice could be heard behind him. "Are we going to attack now, captain?" he asked arrogantly.

The eyes continued to peer out from the roadside, watching the peaceful village.

"Yeah." a devilish smile grew across the captain's face.

* * *

"Open up!"

Koji sat up with a startle hearing a loud banging coming from the door. The loud banging had also awoken Zoe and Tommy, who were still rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. It was still dark outside, though what time it was was completely unknown to the group. The three conscious teenagers looked at each other, each sharing a confused face, for none of them recognized the voice that had yelled out the command.

Again, a loud bang came from the door, the bangs straining the door against its hinges. This time, it was harder. A few seconds later, a crash was heard on the other side as the force of a digimon smashed into the wooden door of the bedroom. Somehow, against all odds, the door held.

"Wake up, everyone!" Koji jumped up, and braced himself against the door before the next crash came from the other side. JP had gotten up, and was looking through the now open window, trying to work out an escape plan.

CRASH!

"What's going on here?" Takuya had only sat up from the noise, still waking up from his deep slumber.

"Oh, just having fun." Answered ironically Zoe.

"Guys, the window looks like the only solution right now." JP suggested his companions.

He opened the window wider than before, and helped each of his friends getting out on the roof. Putting a single hand on the frame of the window, he took a final look behind him, and watched how the door was smashed into pieces and two griffin-like digimon got inside the room he was supposed to sleep peacefully.

JP looked at his friends and sighed in resignation as he saw that his plan didn't succeed. His thoughts then turned to the digimon in front of him, who had at this point had stopped advancing and instead of closing the remaining distance, they were just... waiting.

Koji, grateful at first for the extra time to come up with a plan, was now worried. He realized that above his friends was another griffin digimon, this one looking bigger and stronger and with platinum armour. Tommy gulped.

One of his guards spoke to him with deep, rumbling voice, devoid of any apparent emotion. "These are the humans you requested to be apprehended, captain."

"Very well, Griffinmon." He chuckled. "Lord Sarlakamon is going to be very pleased."

"Just who do you think you are?" Tommy shouted to the captain. "How dare you destroy the home of some innocent digimon!" he added with an angered glare.

"You mean those weak, pathetic excuses for a digital monster? I squished their data like a couple of grapes." His smile grew wider as the five teenagers gasped. "As for my name, I'm PlatinumGriffinmon, the captain of Grifinn Army" he added proudly.

"You're going to regret this!" Takuya announced, with clenched fists, not a hint of fear in his voice.

"Oh, did I strike a nerve? Looks like that. I have to admit, you humans getting angry is quite entertaining. Say now, how can a little human like you make me regret my actions?" The captain smirked, smug and amused. Before he could respond, the beast snarled at the boy and prepared his attack.

* * *

Little did he know that, not far away from the Village of Flames, a pink and white D-Tector started glowing.

"What is this…" Airi asked the obvious question.

"You have a D-Tector!" Bokomon exclaimed surprised, while the girl only stared wide eyed. He then looked more attentively at the screen, where he could see the sign of Ophanimon, one of the three Celestial Digimon.

"Something weird is happening!" the girl raised her voice as the device started to emanate fractal code.

* * *

"It can't be…" muttered the captain.

To Takuya's infinite confusion, the Spirits of Ice, Thunder and Flame appeared in front of them, right next to PlatinumGriffinmon. All of the sudden, their D-Tectors began to glow.

"This is…" JP muttered.

"How did we…?" the goggle boy stated in utter surprise.

"Boys! I don't mean to be rude, but can you worry about the how later?" Zoe yelled at the sight of many Griffinmon flying towards the Spirits.

"Alright!" Takuya said with a confident smile and pulled out his D-Tector. "You guys ready?"

"Ready!" answered the other two boys automatically.

They held up their devices as the Spirits entered them and the screens started to glow in shining, white light. The boys extended their left hands as fractal code appeared around them. Scanning the data, they cried out the command.

" **Execute… Spirit Evolution!"**

Data streams surrounded the three of them. After the fractal code disappeared the transformation was complete, revealing the Warriors.

" **Agunimon!"**

" **Kumamon!"**

" **Beetlemon!"**

"No... no... no no no no!" The captain stumbled back, eyes wide, at what he saw. "That's impossible! You can't... you just... that's impossible!"

"Oh it is very much possible," answered the teddy bear-like digimon with a little smile on his face, while the Warrior of Flames tensed his arms, grinning. Beetlemon was just confidently standing next to them, looking ready to fight.

"Captain, what do we do?" asked sternly one of the Griffinmon, looking at their leader.

PlatinumGriffinmon looked at his two guards. Even though they were in a good shape for any physically challenge and there were high chances for them to win against the three warriors, he remembered what his Lord told him. _"If any unexpected event happens, I want to be informed immediately."_ He thought for a moment and then spoke, "I… uh…" He took half a second to harden his look. "Let's retreat until Lord Sarlakamon gives us new orders."

"Say, what?" The Warrior of Thunder asked quite in shock.

"Oh, c'mon! You've gotta be kidding me!" Agunimon yelled, more towards himself than the digimon. But before he could finish telling his complaints, the Griffinmon, with a strong beat of their wings, took off into the night sky. "Aw, I can't believe that!" he added, while turning back to his human form, along with the other boys, also disappointed.

"What a coward… Running away just like that." Tommy rolled his eyes.

"PlatinumGriffinmon is quite loyal to his boss. Whoever this Sarlakamon is it looks like he filled him up with fear." Koji stated. "He must be a strong enemy." He then turned to see the now-destroyed house of the two digimon who had shown them much kindness and offered them a place to stay.

"Biyomon and Elecmon…" Zoe said thoughtfully.

"We have to stop them before they hurt anyone else..." muttered JP.

With a sigh, nobody argued the point, with four of the five teenagers just staring at the ground, hopelessly unsure of what to do. Takuya was looking at the others, not sure what to do either. He was mad, upset, frustrated, and very, very tired. Still though, he was Takuya Kanbara, the leader of the group, and it was his job to make sure the hope wasn't gone.

"We will!" he yelled with a smile on his face, startling his companions at the sudden outburst. "We will get stronger than ever and together we can beat them. We've got the Spirits by our side, so we're not alone in this battle. I will not allow them to do what they want! I'll protect everyone, no matter what! And I hope you guys share the same feelings."

His heart swelled even more as he saw them exchange a grin with each other. He always knew exactly what to do to bring out hope.

And that was what they needed.


	3. Chapter 3

**DIGIMON FRONTIER: World of Deception**

 **Chapter 3**

It was silent and his focus shifted from blurs to more blurs, struggling to make sense of the world he was in.

"Can you hear my voice?" someone spoke up.

All he could see was an endless plane of colors and shapes swirling and floating in a grey space. He blinked.

"Where am I?" he replied with another question.

"You are at the frontier between the Human and the Digital World." the voice soothed.

"Digital…World?" he repeated slowly.

"Hiroto Sakagami. Are you ready to accept your destiny?"

He looked around blindly, trying to place the voice, hoping to see somebody, or _anybody_.

"My destiny…" he muttered, before the world around him started to blend together and form a new scene.

After that, he was alone.

* * *

"There must be someone there, they said… Let's go, they said…" Katsuharu sighed, and looked towards the town.

Koichi blinked and looked around too. The buildings stood among themselves, dark and empty, and not a single creature other than themselves was left. "This place looks like it hadn't been disturbed in days." he slowly raised an eyebrow.

"Great… a ghost town." Teppei groaned.

"So…what do we do now?" Teruo turned to the gang, and addressed them all in a slightly hushed voice.

"Maybe if we keep walking-" Chiaki suggested, but was quickly interrupted.

"Walking? We've been walking like _forever_! We don't even know where we're heading to." Katsuharu protested, much to the girl's disappointment.

She sighed, and spoke up again, ignoring the interruption. "I know, but we don't have much of a choice, right?"

"Chiaki's right." Teppei spoke up. "So, um…which way do we go?" He looked around them. There were no landmarks or signs of life in any direction.

Teruo shrugged. "Let's just go with the wind."

They looked at each other, each with a confused face on. The boy would always speak in an unusual manner, but due to the circumstances in which they find themselves, no one tried to argue him, so they departed.

Their feet would not stop stepping on the dried up leaves that had fallen from some of the trees nearby. That's when Koichi realized that this part of the Digital World is the Forest Kingdom, but he was still unsure which village was it. The winds started to pick up. They blew across his face. The path then split into two, but both paths too dark to see yonder. Whispers crept into the open night.

"Go left" One of the voices said. He turned towards the sounds.

"No, go right." The whispers grew stronger as they echoed in their ears.

"Left. No, right! Left!" The whispers became confusing and the group could hear steps behind them.

"Who is that?" Koichi shouted. Katsuharu turned his head to find the source of the voices, but only shadows could be seen. Teppei and Teruo looked around too, while Chiaki stayed between them, trying to look as small as possible.

Suddenly, everything around them settled into deathly silence, save the sound of the wind whistling through the air and the leaves. Everyone was silent for a few minutes, but finally someone spoke up.

"What just happened?" the girl of the group asked, her voice abnormally meek. Her mind felt as empty as the streets around them.

"Um…weird weather?" Teruo's eyes scanned the area cautiously. "We'd better keep moving, I suppose."

They continued on in silence for a few more minutes, Teppei's mind swimming with questions. Who was calling them? What happened to the Digital World and to the digimon from these parts? Were they the only humans? And where were they heading to?

He didn't want to bother Koichi or anyone with such childish concerns—the former warrior of darkness was probably thinking up a way to get them out of this—but he knew if he kept silent, he would dwell on it. "Hey, Koichi…"

Koichi frowns. "Oh?"

"I was thinking…W-we could starve if we can't find any food. And we have no idea where any other land may be and we also don't know where we are. Who knows if we will ever be able to get back? And what kind of monsters live around this place?" he analyzed the situation.

"Calm down, Teppei." said thoughtfully, "We're going to figure this out…somehow." He then remembered what his brother told him about Teppei's reputation. He was one of the bullies that had picked on Tommy during his childhood, but since the events in the Digital World, they became friends and would often play soccer together. On the other hand, he was still being a bully, always trying to look cool. The "bad-boy" type. His concerns quite surprised Koichi. "Don't tell me you're scared."

"Me? Scared?!" he replied with no hesitation. "No way!"

"They're back!" Teppei heard a brief scream from Chiaki. He then turned his head to find her, but she was nowhere to be seen. Before he could say anything, something jumped on his back, and took him in a huge shadow.

"Chiaki! Teppei!" the others yelled, but unfortunate for them, the darkness captured them too, leaving the place all empty, with only the sound of their screaming echoing.

* * *

"We've been travelling all day, and my legs are tired, and my hand ache, and…and…nobody is paying attention…that's because I'm all alone…right." Chiaki began talking to herself while walking in the forest. "You know what? I'm going to sit here waiting for someone to rescue me. A lady like myself doesn't have to exhaust herself."

A creak in the shadows tickled her ear.

"H-hello?" she whispered, holding onto the hope that she wasn't completely alone. She stared off into the darkness, waiting for a reply. All of a sudden, someone stepped out of the shadows.

"Chiaki! Is that you?" called a very familiar voice.

"Katsuharu?" A smile crept to her face and her eyes lit up with joy. He too smiled, but not for too long.

"What's with this attitude?"

"Wha-"

"You try to look so independent, but in fact you can't do anything alone. This isn't the time for any kind of fooling around!" her crush yelled at her.

"What are you talking about? I am most certainly not fooling around— I just-" she stopped as the boy slowly walked away. The comforting feeling had dispersed too, leaving only tears instead. She wanted to follow him, but her legs just didn't move. She felt like the whole world collapsed.

Little did she know that the real Katsuharu found himself in a void of darkness, facing a man who resembled him a lot, only that he had darker hair and grey fierce eyes.

"Hey, dad." Katsuharu spoke in a low tone to the man.

Without any response, the man raised his hand and slapped the boy hard.

"I told you to stay home, not to adventure to go to another world!" he shouted with anger, the shadows always covering his face. The boy put his hand at the bruised cheek, caressing it a little. When he found the courage, he replied.

"B-but, dad! This world needs my help! And I'm not alone, my friends are with me!" he stammered, trying to defend himself, but in vain.

Another slap. After several second of silence, his father spoke again.

"Listen here! No one needs your help. And friends? You don't have any friends, Katsuharu! No one cares about you more than I do." he raised his voice a bit louder, but the boy only shook his head. He was too weak to talk. Fear rushed through him. "Let's go home already. You're worthless." He told his son with disappointment.

"I'm sorry…" He tried to say, but realized his voice was gone.

Meanwhile, Katsuharu wasn't the only one with family problems. Koichi was sitting in front of a raven-haired boy, looking concerned.

"Koji." The former warrior of darkness spoke dryly, looking into his twin's eyes.

"Koichi." His brother responded with the same tone.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes… I am … alright." Koji responded, avoiding his brother's gaze at all cost.

"You are a horrible liar," Koichi stated with a weak smile.

His twin did not answer, still focusing his eyes on the ground beneath him.

"Is it because of mom?"

He simply turned around.

"It's okay." Koichi mumbled.

"Huh?" This must have caught his attention, because he turned to face him, his eyes shimmering in the light.

"It's true- it's hard. But most of everything is just different. And now I know that there's nothing wrong with different, and that we can let things be different, we don't have to try and force them. It's just okay." He tried to comfort his brother, but to his disappointment, Koji turned around again.

"No, it's not okay."

"How I wish you would understand…"

"What is it to understand?! That our mother is dating some guy we don't even know and she wants to marry him? This is way too complicated, Koichi, and I'm afraid things will be over if that happens." he began yelling.

"I want her to be happy!" Koichi managed to sob out before bursting out crying.

Without the knowledge of the tumultuous atmosphere the twins found themselves in, a boy and a girl stood next to each other.

"Hey, Teruo?" The girl with hazelnut hair asked, her body half-turned to face him. He grumbled, but faced her anyway.

"I'm sorry…"

"Sorry? For what?" As usual, he's completely baffled. He runs a hand through his hair wearing a wide-eyed look.

"That should be obvious."

His head is titled to one side. "You've already apologized, Rina."

"What I'm trying to say is that I'll make it up to you. Just-"

"That won't be necessary." He interrupted her.

She pulled him in an embrace. His eyes widened and a blush covered his cheeks. He then started crying silently, one of his tears falling onto her shoulder.

Unaware of the events his friends faced in that moment, a boy with glasses looked down embarrassed. "That is no way to talk to your brother, Teppei!" yelled a woman with short raven hair and brown eyes. "Apologize now!"

"Why do I always have to apologize? It was his fault this time!" Teppei yelled back.

"I just can't believe it! You…Give me a break from your excuses already. It's always your fault and you have no proof to contradict me." She turned around and walked away from his son. "You are grounded." She added some final words.

The boy felt like crying, but something about the whole situation felt…wrong. He couldn't remember what happened nor where he was before it happened. Something was definitely wrong. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on anything but his mother.

"Calm down, Teppei." His thoughts lingered around a soothing voice. How it sounded so familiar, so reassuring.

"It's always your fault!" acidic jeers crept from the back of his mind, making him flinch and clamp his eyes shut. "No. I'm not going to fall for it." he convinced himself to go on with the memory from before.

"We're going to figure this out…somehow." The familiar voice cracked again.

"Figure out what?" he asked no one in particular.

"Don't tell me you're scared."

Scared.

"That's it!" he said with a frown. "Listen, I'm not being fooled by you! You'd better let my friends go and stop messing with their feelings! I am the only one who can save them and I'll do everything I can to do that. I am not scared by you, not anymore."

Just as he finished talking, his D-Tector started glowing and his vision was blurring. After blinking several times, he finally focused on what stood in front of him. The Human Spirit of Earth. Without hesitation and grinning widely, he raised his D-Tector and absorbed the spirit into it. Scanning the glowing ring of data around his hand, he finally shouted.

"Execute! Spirit Evolution!" He could feel how energy took over his body as the transformation went on. Teppei was now one with the Spirit of Earth. "Grumblemon!" the creature yelled, holding his Grotte Hammer weapon. He didn't wait too much and throw his hammer in the darkness, calling his attack.

"Seismic Sledge!" He repeated the action several times, until the decor smashed into pieces. The warrior was now back into the forest, face to face with a floating creature with an elephant's trunk, rhinoceros eyes, anox tail, and tiger paws. It was a Bakumon.

"Nightmare Syndrome!" the digimon called, but before he could spit out a cloud, the gnome shouted a threat.

"Not so fast, buddy! No one plays with my mind and gets away with it." Grumblemon attacked again with his weapon, this time pointing towards the monster's trunk. The digimon screamed in pain, while a ring of Fractal Code surrounded his body. The warrior then pulled out his D-Tector, swung his arm out and absorbed the data, until there was nothing left. "Fractal Code…Digitize!" When the process had finished, a body of Fractal Code surrounded his body and changed him back into his human form. The boy got on his knees, panting heavily.

"Teppei?" a familiar voice called, faintly. The now-former warrior of earth turned towards the source and faced Koichi looking down at him. "You okay?" his friend questioned.

He stayed quiet for a few seconds, analyzing what just happened and then exclaimed loudly. "You bet I am!" He jumped up, a glowing smile on his face. He then saw the rest of the group running towards him, all of them with frantic looks on their faces. "Guys, I just got my Spirit! I can't believe you've missed how I saved you all!" he stated proudly with a huge grin.

"Oh, so everything that happened before…" Chiaki began speaking as soon as she arrived next to the two boys. "It wasn't reality, was it?"

He shook his head. "It was a nightmare. A nightmare about something we're scared to happen. This digimon played with our feelings and I couldn't allow him… " he paused for a moment, "so now it's over, don't worry about that anymore. Grumblemon saved the situation." He showed the gang his D-Tector, hoping that he would finally get the attention he wanted.

"I wanna see him!" Teruo was the first to react, followed by Koichi who congratulated him. Right after them was Chiaki who demanded details about the warrior's look. Teppei was way too happy to relate the event and to answer all their questions that he didn't notice that Katsuharu was staying isolated from the group. In fact, everyone was trying to make predictions of which element they would possess and how their warrior would look like. Everyone, except him.

"Why did he find his first?" he asked an inaudible question.

Katsuharu never felt that worthless in his entire life.

* * *

A/N: Woah, it's been such a long time. What do you guys think of this story so far?


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